Puzzle
by Tsukino Aisuru - A
Summary: Every case is but a puzzle to a detective, and every puzzle has a solution. Can two of the best detectives in the world solve the Kira puzzle, though? Rated M for language. LxOC


Tsukino Aisuru - A: (A metallic voice much like L's voice filter comes through your speakers. You feel goose bumps as the hair on your arms and the back of your neck stand on end as you listen to the voice.) _**I see no need to put up a disclaimer. This website is called . As in FAN... fiction. Not authorfiction. FANfiction. As such, the only things I own of this story are the characters not in the original manga/anime Death Note. LONG LIVE L-SAMA!**_ (You could clearly tell by the last thing the voice shouted that this person is obviously against L's death.) _**Anyway, on with the story... My story shall now begin, however before you yourself begin on this journey, please rid all distractions, including, but not limited to, parents, children, siblings, friends (if you are not both reading together, being read aloud to or reading aloud to one of these) T.V.s (unless L-sama is speaking on it. In that case, do not begin this story until he permits you to) radio, music (unless they are affiliated with L-sama. In this case, listen to whatever it is until the person, or preferably L-sama, permits you to read/listen to my story).**_ (Whoever this person is, you know you should listen to them, no matter what.)

Tsukino Aisuru - A: _**You have done as told, yes?**_ (You shakily say, "Yes, I have." You never knew yourself to be like this, however this voice demanded that you did.) _**Good. You may continue on with my story now.**_

^  
BAHAHA XDD I'm sorry, I had to.

* * *

~_story begins_~

* * *

"School. Now." I ordered the unruly, delinquent, short-haired blonde girl who had enough ambition to think she can one day become as good as L - the best detective on the planet - by the time she finished high school. "Or else."

"Or what?" She challenged. I rose an eyebrow.

"Even L was schooled at one point. If you truly believe you can surpass him, you have to surpass _me_ first, and, the way _you're_ going, I can't see that _ever_ happening," I informed her. She teared up.

"Just because I'm not the world's bitchiest woman does-" she began, only to be interrupted by my foot. In her face.

"If you manage to pass this entire day without being a total brat, I will consider giving you a double chocolate donut sided with strawberries, oreos and very chocolatey milk."

"_ITTEKIMASU!_" I'm off/going. She sang, grabbing her backpack, lunch, and leaving.

I rolled my eyes as the door slammed closed and wandered to my room, taking out my hundred thousand piece puzzle, then putting it back immediately as I immediately saw the solution to it. I then searched the Internet, watched the news, played World of Warcraft (the most awesome computer game EVER XD), refused to heal the tank because he was an asshole and we couldn't boot him from the dungeon group because he kept pulling mobs so as to avoid said booting - he left after us letting him die 9 times - then went on with the dungeon, beat the Alliances' butt in a battle ground, got on my alliance character and beat the _Horde's_ butt, got off, showered, had lunch, did the dishes, went grocery shopping, came home, put the groceries away and watched the news until Stephannie - the unruly blonde girl - came home. When said girl came home, she was obviously holding in snickers.

"How was your almost last day at high school?" I said with an air of darkness.

"Pretty interesting! A black book fell from the sky, and it said DEATH NOTE on it!" She snickered.

"Did you bring it home?" I asked, interested. She shook her head, confused.

"I left it alone. It's probably just some stupid senior prank or something."

I shrugged. "I will assume you obeyed the rules of your school today, seeing as how I, for once, did not get a call by your teacher or teachers, complaining about your terrible behavior." I stated. "However, there is a 97% chance you were unruly and your teachers were either too annoyed to call me, too tired of you to call me, too depressed because of you to call me, finally got tired of calling me, or something along those lines."

She paled as my wide eyes scanned her.

"I will assume it is the latter."

"DAMMIT!" She wailed. "You're too good!"

I smirked. "Homework. Now."

She shook her head. "None. The teachers threatened to call you if I didn't finish it all in class. I even have a note."

My eyes widened. "Really? How interesting!" I exclaimed, taking the note and reading it.

_Dear Tsukino-san,_

_We here at the school have finally managed to do the impossible: Getting Tsuki-san, your younger sibling, to actually finish her work at school, and I have to commend you - she behaved much better than usual, even though she was still very immature and disruptive. I didn't have to call the police on her today, or you (which she tells me is worse)! Whatever you did to her, I beg you to either let us in on your secret or keep it up; it's a lot less stressful with her less like her normal self._

_With my deepest regards,_

_Ryu Chikaro_

I paled. "THE POLICE HAS BEEN CALLED ON YOU?"

Stephannie turned white as bone. "Now, now, you don't understand-" she began, waving her hands in front of her.

"I understand." I growled.

"IT WAS SELF-DEFENSE! A girl was making fun of me, so I-"

"Beat the shit outta her?" I guessed.

"Yes!"

"That was a terrible decision!" I groaned, wishing I had been there as I had on other situations which stopped her from being expelled from school on several occasions.

"Aw..." she pouted.

"Puzzle." I instructed. Stephannie's eyes narrowed.

"I don't get how a puzzle helps me be a better detective!" She snapped.

"Every case a detective in L's field works on is like a puzzle that he has to put together." I explained. Understanding lit in her eyes.

"OHH! I get it now!" She exclaimed. My work cell phone rang as she walked to the table with her puzzle and began working on it.

"Yes?" I answered my cell phone nonchalantly.  
"Marolyn, an Eriko Lensin has requested your help on the Kira case," Jenethen, the only person with my work phone number informed me.

"Isn't the almighty L working on that case?"

"Well- yes, but he doesn't believe L is enough."

"What about Eraldo Coil or Denueve? I've worked with them before, and both of them are way better then me." I huffed.

"They turned down our plea."

"I'm kinda training a noob." I sighed.

"HEY!" Said noob shouted.

"Miss Marolyn, we need your help. L even said that he would like it if you did!" Jenethen pleaded. I froze.

"Wait, the almighty L actually _wants_ me to help him?" I exclaimed, shocked.

"_**WHAT?**_"

"I'll give you a bar of candy if you pretend you didn't hear me, S." I muttered. She twitched.

"You're using my alias?" Stephannie asked, shocked. I put my finger over my mouth. She frowned, but turned back to her puzzle.

I walked into my room and closed the door. "Why would L like me to help him?"

"Actually, he said that if, after approximately one week, he decides he needs assistance he will contact you, however I want you to be ready before that happens."

"And why do you believe that will happen?"

"I-I don't believe-" Jenethen began.

"Don't lie to me." I ordered.

"Because... Argh, I'll tell you some other time." He sighed. "Please think about this!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I hung up and walked back into the living room.

"Explain!" Stephannie gasped, looking at me with wide eyes.  
"Confidential information."

"Why would L even _think_ about _you_ helping? What connection have you got? WHO WAS THAT?"

I scowled. "Hold your tongue. L and I have no connection whatsoever and that was my brother." I lied smoothly.

"Then why did you say-"

"He was pulling a foolish prank again. He's a mere child in a grown man's body."

"Oh..." Stephannie muttered, disappointed. "I didn't know you had a brother."

"There is a _lot_ of things about me you do not know about, and if things go wrong, you may learn a few of them sometime in the near future."

"Wow." Was my only answer.

* * *

~_a few days later_~

* * *

~_Marolyn's P.O.V._~

* * *

I blinked, not believing my ears. "THAT GUY... is L?" Stephannie whimpered, staring in horror at the T.V. screen. Some guy with long hair, claiming to be Lind L. Tailor, better known as L, was speaking on the T.V. screen. "But... He's ugly.. and STUPID... He is damn stupid to be going against Kira in this manner..." Stephannie muttered, doing her puzzle. "Yeah, he's showing his face and name on national T.V. when people think he can kill with a thought or something! And he's ugly!" She then paused. "HOW THE HELL DO I DO THIS PUZZLE?" Stephannie screamed. I glanced over and immediately saw how to solve it.

"I don't think you want me to help you..." I muttered. She only had two pieces connected to eachother (they actually didn't even fit together) and she'd been working on it for over a week now.

She blinked. "Why not?"

"... Don't ask... By the way, those two pieces you have together are wrong... It's actually _these_ two..." I muttered, putting the correct matches for those two pieces together. She stared in silent disbelief.

Suddenly there was a commotion on the T.V. as "L" gasped, clutching at his chest and fell face first on the desk. People immediately came and took him away. I gaped.

"Holy-shit-he-just-died!" Stephannie gasped, horrified. I frowned as the letter L appeared on the screen.

"I can't believe it. I tested it at first, but I never thought it could actually be true..." A computerized voice said. My lips slightly parted in surprise. Could this be...? "Kira," It said. "It seems that you can kill people without having to be there in person. I wouldn't have been able to believe this if I hadn't just witnessed it. Listen closely, Kira; if you did indeed just kill the 'Lind ' on screen, I can tell you that he is in fact a criminal that was do to be put to death today. That was not me."

"So he _is_ smart..." Stephannie whispered. A smile tugged at my lips.

"He was a criminal that was captured by the police in absolute secrecy. You wouldn't have heard from him on the news or through the internet. Looks like even you have no information on these kinds of killers."

A small smile appeared on my lips. "Kira has been had."

"Indeed." Stephannie chuckled.

"But, as for L, he certainly does exist, as my own persona."

At that, I beamed. "Damn straight you exist."

"Now, try and kill me." L instructed. My smile disappeared.

"Whhhyy?" Stephannie muttered. I shushed her.

"This is the good part. It's time to find out if Kira can kill with just the thought."

"Oh."

"Go on, then! Hurry up! Kill me. What's wrong? What are you going to do? Go on, kill me! What's wrong, can't you do it?"

I was now grinning like an idiot. "Owned! Kira is being _owned_!" I giggled.

"Pch!" Stephannie snorted. "Seems like Kira isn't so great after all!"

"_So_, it seems you can't kill me. So there are people you can't kill. Thanks for the hint." Listening to this broadcast, I don't think my grin could be any bigger. "As a reward, I'll tell you one more thing. We lied about this being a live worldwide broadcast." I was wrong. It got bigger. "This announcement is currently only being broadcasted across the Kanto region of Japan. We were planning to broadcast it at different times, across different regions, but it seems that there is no longer any need for this. I know you're in Kanto. Your first killing was overlooked by the police as it was such a small incident. However, your first victim was in fact the phantom killer in Shinjuku." Okay, NOW it can't get any bigger. "Whilst the other high profile killers were dying of heart attacks, this was the only one incident that stuck out by being quite a heavy punishment for a relatively low profile crime. In addition, that incident was also only reported within Japan. Just those pieces of information was enough for me to figure it out. It means that you are in Japan, and that criminal was your first 'experiment.'" Okay, _NOW_ my smile can't get any bigger. "Due to its large population, this announcement was first broadcasted in the Kanto region, and what luck, we found you. To be honest, I'd never thought it would go this smoothly. Kira, it seems like it won't be too long before I can sentence you to death." Ohmygod. My smile keeps growing. L has really lived up to his reputation! "Kira, I'm curious to know your true motives behind this... but I guess that can wait until I've caught you. Let's meet again, soon... Kira."

The screen went static.

"Amazing. Truly amazing." I sighed, my humungous smile on my face. "I have a feeling L will win in the end."

"Wow... L is really smart!" Stephannie squeaked.

"Hmm... Finish your puzzle. We can talk of the great L after that." I instructed. Tears flew down her face.

"PLEASE just show me how you'd do it!"

I scowled and walked to the table, away from where I had previously sat down in the middle of L speaking. I stared at the puzzle which Stephannie had managed to screw up again and quickly undid the messed up pieced. My hands were a blur as I completed the ten thousand piece puzzle in one minute and one second. She gaped. "Done." I said calmly, then walked to the closet, put on my short, black, shiny coat, a top hat, pulled on my boots, grabbed my purse before I turned to her. "I expect you to undo that puzzle and begin working on it from start. No pieces I put together to help you may remain done. Do it yourself and don't even think of cheating - remember that I have surveillance cameras up. I am going to the store. I will be back in a few hours. There is cake and such in the fridge, and money in the jar if you wish to go to a restaurant in the building. Goodbye." I left her gaping after me. (**A.N. I actually did that to my friend once, the puzzle thing... she was all, "OMG! O_O" and I just gave her the L stare XD**) Slowly, I walked down the corridor of the apartment building we were staying at and stopped at the elevator. I pressed the button for the elevator and calmly waited for it to come up to me. It dinged and the doors opened. I calmly stepped inside and nodded at the other people inside before glancing at the buttons and, seeing the ground floor was already pressed, stood in the elevator at it slowly went down. After a few moments, it stopped at the bottom and a few people and I stepped out.

"Ā, Tsukino-san, deteiku,〜 o?" Ah, going out, Tsukino-san? The receptionist smiled at me as the other people went towards the restaurant areas. I turned my gaze towards her.

"Hai, sono tōri." Yes, that's right. (**A.N. If any of my Japanese is wrong, I beg you to tell me - I am still in the process of learning it and will likely get something[s] wrong.**) "Watashi wa tan'ni sūjikan no tame ni mise ni dekakeru shite imasu." I am merely going out to the store for a few hours.

"Wakarimashita. Yoi jikan, Tsukino-san o motte ite kudasai!" I see. Please have a good time, Tsukino-san! She smiled. I nodded and allowed a small smile as I waved slightly and left. My feet padded against the sidewalk as I walked to my favorite bakery. The doorbell dinged, signaling my presence.

"Hello, Tsukino-san~!" One of the girls at the counter sang. I smiled. "What can I get for you today?"

"The usual, please, Hiyori-san." I said softly. She beamed.

"Of course~!" She turned towards the kitchen. "The usual for Tsukino-san, please~!" She turned back towards me as I slid my credit card in the machine and typed in my passcode. "Anything not usual for today?" She grinned. My lips twitched.

"No, thank you, Hiyori-san." I said as the bell dinged, signaling another customer. Hiyori-san gave me my order. "Arigatou gozaimasu."

"No problem!" She smiled.

I turned around and nearly dropped my sweets. WATARI! It was him! He was wearing a trench coat and top hat but it was him! That means L really is in Japan. Oh, how I've missed kind Watari. It's been so long since I've seen him.

He saw me too, and smiled and tipped his hat. "Tsukino-san."

I nodded at him and quickly left, thoughts jumbling around in my mind. _Was it a coincidence? It must've been, otherwise he would've said something other than that and/or followed me, and/or spoke to me by other means. I wonder, will he tell L he saw me, or just let it be? 90% sure he'll say nothing to L. 93.7% sure it was just a coincidence. He was probably just getting sweets for the world's biggest sugar tooth._ I soon entered my apartment. "Cake. Cookies. Brownies. Strudel. Cupcakes. Candy. Help yourself." I said, setting the 5 boxes I had down on the table. She was immediately over with a paper plate and plastic fork, grabbing a piece of cake, some cookies, brownies, strudel, cupcakes and candy. I sweat-dropped and grabbed a piece of strawberry cake to bring to my room along with tea and a bunch of sugar cubes, intending on working on a few minor cases or something.

* * *

~_A few weeks later_~

* * *

~_Marolyn's pov_~

* * *

"... Ano... Tsukino-san?" Stephannie hesitated.

"Yes?" I replied calmly.

"Is your name really Tsukino Aisuru?"

I glanced at her. "Alias." She twitched.

"Real name?"

"None of your business." I said in a monotone.

My cell phone decided to ring at that moment. I whipped it out, opened it, held it between my thumb and forefinger and put it near my ear, holding it like it was something gross. "Hai?"

"Hello, Marolyn." A familiar voice greeted warmly. I blinked and walked into my room, making sure a certain someone could not eavesdrop.

"Watari, how did you get this number?" I sighed.

"Well," He began.

"Never mind, I'll just have to change it and increase security. If you wanted to talk to me, you should have followed me out of the bakery or something." I huffed. "And this is my work cell phone. Why couldn't you have used my other one?" I sighed, knowing right now he was only hearing a robotic voice, not my real voice.

"Because L has asked me to contact you, and I believe your other phone number is not as secure as this one." He stated.

"I see, however both of my phone numbers are the same in security, just to let you know for future reference. It seems both needs greater security. Why has L asked you to contact me?" I said nonchalantly. "If he wishes so, he should have contacted me himself."

"Ah, but he is busy working on the Kira case, of which he requests your help-" Watari began.

"No." I said simply. "He obviously does not think much of me if I am not even worth him directly contacting. Please inform him of my feelings on that subject. Just contact Coil or Deneuve. So sad. S would have been overjoyed."

"I see... but who is S?" Watari asked, sounding slightly upset.

"My pupil." I said in a monotone. "She was orphaned at the age of 15 and pleaded for me to help her to catch her parents' killers. Little did she know she was asking that of the world's 4th best detective."

"I see." Watari said, slightly amused.

"In short, she feels the need to become the world's best detective to make sure that never happens to anyone else. She, sadly, is nowhere near being ready for such a feat. Poor girl." I sighed. "I've taken her under my wing to help her, however she does not seem like the type who should truly go down this line of work..."

"Were her parents' killers caught?" Watari asked, curious.

"Of course. They left behind far too much evidence, including fingerprints, the weapons used for the murder, their own blood, and witnesses." I replied. "They were caught by the next day, seeing as though it happened around 11:00 P.M. I take it that was all, Watari-san?"

"Yes, thank you, Marolyn." He replied. We hung up. I wonder if L will even contact me... The probability of that is less than 3%, unless he is desperate.

A knock sounded at my door. "Who was that, Tsukino-san?" Stephannie asked.

"An old friend." I replied.

"Oookay..." She muttered, and went back to her cake and puzzle.

* * *

~_Watari's pov_~

* * *

I sighed. Marolyn had refused to help on the Kira case due to the fact that she was not contacted by L himself. I could see why she felt how she did, since practically no one showed her any respect due to her being a woman, and she why she felt that L should at least call her himself if he wanted her to help on the case, but L truly wanted her help and didn't have a lot of time to call her himself. I walked to the room he was in, watching the police room and adding his opinion once and a while, but mostly listening and researching things on the case. "L." I said. He turned.

"Yes, Watari? Were you able to contact Marolyn?"

"Yes, and Marolyn said, and I quote, 'No. He obviously does not think much of me if I am not even worth him directly contacting. Please inform him of my feelings on that subject. Just contact Coil or Deneuve. So sad.' in response to your request." I informed him. He blinked, shocked.

"She wants me to contact her myself." He clarified. I nodded and watched, amused, as his thumb slowly made its way to his lips. After a few minutes, I left, seeing as though he hadn't moved from that position and obviously wasn't going to for awhile.

* * *

~_a few minutes later_~

* * *

~_L's pov_~

* * *

Marolyn apparently either believes that I think little of her or simply wants my attention. I am 95.4% sure that it is the former, and I can't quite ask Coil or Deneuve for help, since I _am_ Coil and Deneuve. By that reasoning, Marolyn is technically the 2nd best detective in the world, my top choice for someone to help me on this case. I have a feeling that she and I think alike, and that she would very likely help turn this case more in our favor instead of the way I have a feeling it will lead to: my death. Marolyn can very well save my life if she's on the case with me. But should I contact her myself? If I have time to be thinking about this, I have time to contact her. Should I contact her, or leave her out of this?

I stood up and went to where Watari was sure to be.

* * *

~_Marolyn's pov_~

* * *

I was kinda proud of myself, I admit it. I wasn't sure if I would have been able to actually stick to my pride like that, but I did. I sat down on the couch in the living room, next to Stephannie, and gave her occasional advice on the techniques she could use to better her ability to complete the puzzle and watched the news. After about 15 minutes, my work cell phone rang. AGAIN. With a groan, I pulled out the phone and answered it again. "Hai?"

"Hello, Miss Marolyn." The person I least expected to actually call me greeted me. I nearly fell off the couch.

"OHMYGOD! Tsukino-san, are you okay?" Stephannie eeped. "Don't fall! Don't fall!"

I shushed her. "I'm fine, S - just- um...puzzle! Finish it already!" I quickly ran into my room for the second time today. "You actually called me?" I demanded.

"Yes, I did." L replied, acting as if it was nothing. Computerized voice for the win! XD

"Wh-" I began, only to be interrupted by a pounding on the door.

"You are definitely acting out of character, Tsukino-san!" Stephannie wailed.

"S!" I scolded. "If you keep acting like an immature brat, you won't even surpass L in a million years!"

"S will never surpass me, period." said letter replied blankly.

"Oh, shuddup, L..." I huffed.

"... Did I just overhear what I think I did?" Stephannie asked.

"You overheard my plans of Stephannie annihilation? Shit!" I exclaimed. "Jeff, we need a new plan! She found out about the other!"

"You're planning my annihilation?" Stephannie eeped. "CRAP!" She proceeded to run off.

I shook my head. "Definitely not surpassing you." L remained silent. "Hasn't anyone ever heard of call Jenethen instead of me? Really?" I huffed. "And then have him call me, telling me you want to talk to me. It saves me from almost falling off a couch into a certain S." I complained, knowing all he would hear is a robotic voice complaining. "If you want something now, just ask." I instructed.

"Will you work on the Kira case with me?" He said finally.

I smiled. "And why would I do that, oh-so-amazing L?"

"Because, other than me, there is no one more qualified."

"Eraldo Coil. Deneuve."

"Both are me." He replied. I froze.

"Your joking."

"That would be very inappropriate in this situation."

"That means I'm only second to _you_, technically?" I demanded.

"In the public eye, no."

"But in actuality, yes." I tested.

"That is correct." He confirmed.

"Damn you..."

"Will you or will you not, Miss Marolyn?" He continued, ignoring my previous right of damnation upon him.

I sighed heavily. "... I will."

"... Thank you." He said quietly - I could barely hear him. I gaped at the phone. Holy shit, he thanked me!

"What do you want me to do?"

* * *

**Menehmeh? 9_9**


End file.
